News from Sub Sahara Africa

From Regional Patient Advocate Patricia Karani

2024 Highlights

It has been an exciting year for Africa as we finally had new Member Organizations (MO) joining HAEi, thanks to patient leads taking up the role in the individual countries. We have worked extensively with HAE Mozambique, HAE Comoros, and HAE Zimbabwe to find support from local doctors interested in raising HAE awareness and supporting HAE patients in their countries. This has involved a lot of dialogue, HAE training, and HAE talks and seminars. We are glad to have found doctors willing to collaborate with the local MOs and raise more awareness in their countries.

We are also excited to be part of the new genetic testing program being rolled out in some African countries, as this will help us identify more HAE patients and get doctors knowledgeable about HAE in the region.

The 2024 HAEi Global Leadership Workshop was a great opportunity for HAE group leads and doctors to learn and interact. The GLW and Global Angioedema Forum 2024 highlighted that HAE is a family, and we all collaborate as individual stakeholders to realize our goals: early diagnosis, correct treatment, and proper management of HAE.

Hopes for 2025

I am excited about the new prospects for HAE awareness in our region. Plans are already underway in the MOs to have more awareness activities and ideas that will create impact and enlighten more people on the burden of illness and the need for more interventions regarding early diagnosis, treatment, and management of HAE in Africa.